Capcom Copyright Clobbers Super Street Fighter IV Videos

[Andy Chalk]

Capcom Copyright Clobbers Super Street Fighter IV Videos

Capcom [http://www.capcom.com/] is apparently lowering the boom on Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition videos on YouTube featuring Evil Ryu and Oni Akumfa, throwing copyright notices at anyone who posts footage of the two officially unrevealed characters.

Capcom apparently isn't very happy with the number of Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition videos floating around on YouTube [http://www.youtube.com] that show Evil Ryu and Oni Akuma strutting their stuff in bone-crunching, street-fighting action. The duo were long rumored to be present in the game and appeared briefly in a promotional trailer released in December, but they haven't been officially announced yet and Capcom for some reason seems to think that it can makes people forget all about them until they're ready to spread the word. The company has thus been throwing around copyright violation notices on YouTube, forcing the removal of most trailers featuring the two characters.

That's annoying enough but as losing his channel [http://www.next-gen.biz/news/capcom-cracks-down-on-ssfiv-youtube-videos] and more than 50 videos.

The two fighters were apparently unlocked using Capcom's built-in password system, although how the passwords were actually leaked, first to Arcade Infinity in California and then to the rest of the world, remains a mystery. According to yesterday [http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2011/jan/24/capcom-putting-copyright-notices-oni-evil-ryu-videos/].

I'm not much of a Street Fighter fan but I'm inclined to agree with Edge's assessment that this is a "needlessly punitive approach to a community with which it is otherwise commendably engaged." The genie is out of the bottle and the harder Capcom struggles to put it back in, or the louder it yells at people to stop looking at it, the more it's going to alienate its most dedicated followers. Beating up your fans is never a good idea.


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[omicron1]

Ah, copyright claims. I wonder if they'd stop if (say) 3 people made copyright claims against Capcom's official channel, knocking them offline...

 

[TheDoomPenguin]

I would assume Google verifies any copyright claims to stop that from happening.

 

[Extasii]

lil childish on Capcom's part. It's not like these characters will be much more than color-palette swaps with maybe one or two extra moves thrown on anyway.

 

[ace_of_something]

Ahh Capcom you have stumbled into what is known as the Streisand Effect; behold it's botarded glory.

 

[mjc0961]

Thoughts:

A bit silly coming from Capcom, the guys who ripped off Splosion Man.
At least they didn't sue anybody like a certain other company that seems to want lots of negative attention lately.

 

[Motakikurushi]

Capcom completely decimate a user's account and all the videos he/she worked on to make and upload because of 2 measly characters in yet another Street Fighter title, who were as obvious as Hadoukens being included in the game? That's obscenely outlandish and ridiculously harsh. Really, it's not big surprise. There is ALWAYS going to be a character like this in any arcade fighting game. Besides, if it's not God Rugal it's not worth having.

 

[StriderShinryu]

lil childish on Capcom's part. It's not like these characters will be much more than color-palette swaps with maybe one or two extra moves thrown on anyway.

Evil Ryu is, as expected, Ryu with some of Akuma's tools plus a damage boost accompanied by a major defense reduction. Playing him like Ryu is possible, but not really advised unless you have a solid enough defense to just not get hit.. but that wouldn't play to his strengths anyway.

Oni, however, is quite different from Akuma. Playing him like Akuma at all will not only be tough but in many reports it will be downright impossible.

So no, not really simple palette swaps, sorry.

You are quite right about Capcom's silly punitive actions though.

 

[Gindil]

Wow Capcom... First you lose on gaining respect for "copying" a game and now you punish people with takedowns?

Great way to win the respect of the community...

 

[Callate]

Yeah, this is overly punitive, but I think the article's author is looking at this approach a little narrowly. While it's true that there's no "putting the genie back in the bottle" with regard to Evil Ryu or Oni Akuma, this approach may be more attempting to prevent future "leaks" by showing how Capcom will respond to future "abuses". And I have to admit I'm not entirely unsympathetic to that; as much as Capcom is dependent on its future fighting game releases to remain successful and financially solvent, it has a real stake in having some control over the rate at which information about its games is released and maintaining the ability to create a structured advertising/media campaign that holds player interest up to the time of release.

Also, if Evil Ryu or Oni Akuma ended up not making it into the final version or being withheld for a still later version (recognizing that Capcom has said further versions of SFIV are not on the agenda), can you imagine how the fans will hit the forums, claiming to be "robbed"?

 

[Carlston]

Need to be careful of this.
Free publicity of AMV's, fan made videos gets peoples attention...

Why would you not want your fighters duking it out to some heavy metal song in perfect time.... your product is being advertised for free....

Free...

Youtube videos are not money making videos stealing your copyright for cash. They are basicly free fan made commercials for your product....

douches.

 

[Danpascooch]

Nintendo, now Capcom?

Is there something about the culture in Japan that makes these companies think this is a good idea?

 

[Lightslei]

Nintendo, now Capcom?

Is there something about the culture in Japan that makes these companies think this is a good idea?

It's Japan, I give up on any sense of logic.